Chapter 8: Abyss God! Activate!

【Player Nickname: Undead#9527】

【Player Level: Lv0 (One free attribute point granted per level up)】

【Strength: 10 (Top-tier professional boxer level)】

【Constitution: 10 (Top-tier long-distance runner level)】

【Agility: 10 (Top-tier parkour athlete level)】

【Intelligence: 11 (This is no ordinary person, though the system is somewhat skeptical of this rating due to your chronic neurosis)】

【Spirit: 35 (Average value is 5, normal humans max out at 10; are you really human?)】

【Charisma: 5 (Your appearance is delicate and pleasing, but your bizarre behavior is causing your charisma to steadily decline)】

Seeing this, Wu Wang couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

How could this mere game panel start nitpicking his face and behavior?

Could it be that it possesses an independent consciousness?

Without the slightest hesitation, Wu Wang slowly bent down and stripped himself completely bare. In the dark space, his sharp, well-defined muscle lines went unappreciated.

Then, he began to do calisthenics all on his own.

His muzzle danced around, aiming everywhere.

About ten minutes later, he checked his personal panel again and found that a certain value had changed.

【Charisma: 4 (What the hell are you doing! Where is your sense of propriety and shame? Where is your civilized conduct? You goddamn bastard!)】

"OK, it seems it really does have some consciousness. This is getting interesting. Is it AI autonomous evolution, or is some biological consciousness taking over this system?" Wu Wang put on his pants with an expressionless face and pondered.

But no matter how much he shouted into the dark space afterward, no voice answered him.

It seemed the existence of this consciousness was still somewhat subtle.

Wu Wang didn't continue trying to trigger the system's consciousness; instead, he looked down at the personal panel information.

【Inventory: Gaoshan Middle School Uniform】

【Skill Bar: Shadow Combat, Sight of Truth】

"Hmm? What the hell are these skills?" Wu Wang ignored the strange school uniform in his equipment slot for the moment and curiously clicked on the descriptions of the two inexplicable skills.

【Shadow Combat (Active): You can swap any part of your body with your shadow, switching between physical and ethereal states. Consumes 5 Spirit per second, no cooldown (Player Spirit Value = Spirit Stat × 10)】

【Note: I'm counting on you, other me!】

This shadow-related skill must have been obtained from the previous instance. Wu Wang had heard the sound of a hidden condition being met when he was forcibly logged out.

In that buggy, hopeless problem instance, the hidden condition was most likely catching the ghost.

After all, that should have been impossible to do.

【Sight of Truth (Passive): This allows you to see through certain truths, revealing the true face of false things and distorted tasks.】

【Note: %@&# is watching you from the abyss】

【Oh God! I am gradually understanding everything!】

The original task provided by the distorted instance.

And it’s a damn passive skill.

This doesn't sound like good news.

"Is this shitty skill some kind of curse given to me by that Cthulhu-wannabe? Still watching me from the abyss?" Wu Wang muttered with a strange expression: "Are you the God of the Abyss?"

Unfortunately, he hadn't experienced any other instances yet.

He wasn't very clear about what this so-called distorted task was all about.

Wu Wang decided to look at the other things on the panel first.

*Whoosh—*

With a thought, the Gaoshan Middle School uniform from his inventory appeared in his hands.

He raised an eyebrow in surprise; he hadn't expected items in the inventory to appear out of thin air.

"I have a storage ring now! Too bad I'm missing an old man who can breathe fire and teach me alchemy," Wu Wang lamented.

Since 【Shadow Combat】 was a hidden reward, this clothing must be the so-called 【Compensation Reward】.

Turning it over to inspect it, the uniform was slightly worn. The school badge on the chest and the four characters "Gaoshan Middle School" on the back were washed white. It was clear the original owner's family wasn't well-off and couldn't afford a new uniform, having to wash this one constantly.

【Gaoshan Middle School Uniform: Put it on at midnight and stand in any school campus to trigger a directed instance.】

【Note: Hide! Hurry and hide! Don't let it see me!】

Wu Wang was surprised by this.

He had thought it was some kind of defensive gear, but it turned out to be a key to open a new instance.

"Sure enough, the sense of dissonance is still very strong..."

From the moment he entered the novice instance to Cthulhu peeking in with pinkeye, Wu Wang had felt that something was wrong.

Only now, seeing the effect and note of the school uniform, did he finally understand where the dissonance came from.

"The previous information was too scarce. I didn't know the identity of the [Ghost], why it was hiding in the shadows, or why the classroom lights were flickering. Now I understand: it didn't belong in that instance at all!" Wu Wang's brain raced.

Even the trashiest game developers in reality know to have a plot or set a background story, or at the very least, provide character identities.

But the problem instance from earlier had nothing.

You were slaughtered by a ghost the moment you entered, and the clearance condition was a dead-end loop.

It was as if the entire purpose of the instance was just to kill everyone.

Even Hidetaka Miyazaki isn't this sadistic!

If this Spirit Disaster game is so powerful, it shouldn't have such a crude instance.

Unless the lecture hall and the [Ghost] were forcibly pieced together!

There was no connection between the two!

"The [Ghost] should have been part of Gaoshan Middle School, not that strange lecture hall." Wu Wang narrowed his eyes, examining the uniform in his hand.

He couldn't know the reason for all this anomaly.

Or rather, if he wanted to figure it out, he would have to go to the so-called "Gaoshan Middle School" to investigate.

Thinking this, Wu Wang couldn't help but smile

"Heh, isn't this just a pure fishing trap? Only an idiot would fall for it! Do I look like an idiot?"

An existence capable of changing the structure of an instance, whether it's someone's handiwork or the influence of some item—at his current stage, it's best not to get involved.

【Immortality】 is not invincibility.

It is too easy to torture someone.

For example—sealing oneself in a cement barrel and sinking it to the bottom of the sea. You would suffocate and die the moment you revive, in an infinite loop.

In such a situation, 【Immortality】 becomes the true source of pain, where you can neither live nor die.

*Swish—*

Just after he finished mocking it.

His right hand suddenly lifted uncontrollably.

The red vertical pupil on the inside of his wrist stared straight into Wu Wang's eyes. Whispers began to echo in his skull, his consciousness began to sink and distort, and his skin felt itchy, as if organs that didn't belong to him were about to grow out.

Wu Wang reacted and immediately looked away.

But in a daze, he still saw the red vertical pupil blink at him.

The next second, he felt something sticky on his hand.

He looked down.

The uniform that had been washed white had changed.

Now, the uniform was covered in various pigments and filth, as if it had been tossed into a dye vat and stirred haphazardly.

Most of it was red.

A foul, fishy stench wafted up, hitting his nostrils and making Wu Wang frown instinctively. The familiar texture in his hands and his years of experience with suicide allowed him to make a judgment instantly.

The red wasn't paint.

It was blood.

And it was old, stagnant blood.

Most importantly, the panel description of the school uniform had also changed—

【Blood-Stained School Uniform: The holder must arrive at any school environment within 24 hours and put on this garment.】

【Note: I was caught by it, now it's your turn... Run!】

【If the task is not completed within the specified time, the instance will descend upon your closest relative.】

【Target locked—Wu Xiaoyou】

*Snap—*

Wu Wang's fist clenched violently, making a sound. His nails dug deep into the flesh of his palm, showing just how intense his emotional fluctuations were at this moment.

Because the person represented by this name.

Had just prepared "Chicken Stewed with Mushrooms" instant noodles for him on the dining table not long ago.

She was Wu Wang's second sister.

And his only relative left in this world.

"You goddamn piece of shit! The Abyss God is activated, right?" Wu Wang's tone was grinding through his teeth.

He never expected that the 【Sight of Truth】 provided by that Cthulhu-wannabe could actually distort items!

And this damn skill was a 【Passive】, completely impossible to stop.

After taking a deep breath, his mindset returned to normal.

Wu Wang looked at the tattered school uniform in his hand, bared his teeth, and said viciously: "You want to see me go have some fun so badly?"

"Fine! Then open your dog eyes and watch clearly how I speedrun Gaoshan Middle School!"

(End of chapter)